ICWIM study guide
ICWIM · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The International Certificate in Wealth and Investment Management (ICWIM) is an entry-level professional qualification for people who work with, or advise, private clients on money - private bankers, relationship managers, paraplanners, investment support staff and graduates moving into wealth management. It is designed to sit at the foundation level: it assumes some familiarity with financial products but does not demand prior professional experience, and it is often taken as a first step before more advanced advisory or portfolio qualifications. The ICWIM study guide has 8 sections and about 2,502 words.
01The Financial Services Industry and the Regulatory Environment
Financial services move surplus capital from savers and investors to those who need funding - companies, governments, households - and transfer and price risk along the way. You must be able to say precisely what each intermediary does: retail and investment banks (deposits, lending, underwriting), asset managers (discretionary investment decisions), stockbrokers (execution and, sometimes, advice), insurers and pension providers (risk pooling and long-term savings), custodians (safe-keeping and settlement of assets), exchanges and clearing houses (trading venues and counterparty guarantee).
328 words, about 2 min02Ethics and Professional Standards
Ethical standards rest on a small set of principles: integrity, fairness, competence and diligence, confidentiality, objectivity, and proper management of conflicts of interest. Exam questions rarely ask you to recite them; they present a scenario and ask what a professional should do .
329 words, about 2 min03Asset Classes and Financial Markets
Cash and money-market instruments (Treasury bills, certificates of deposit, commercial paper) offer low volatility and high liquidity with modest return. Bonds are loans to governments or companies: coupon, maturity, credit risk, interest-rate risk and a defined claim in the capital structure.
318 words, about 2 min04Investment Products, Funds and Collective Investments
Collective investments pool client money to obtain diversification, professional management and scale. Open-ended vehicles (unit trusts, OEICs, SICAVs, most UCITS funds) expand and contract with demand and are priced at forward net asset value (NAV).
325 words, about 2 min05Investment Analysis and Valuation
Fundamental analysis can be top-down (economy, sector, company) or bottom-up (company first). Key ratios: earnings per share, price/earnings (mind trailing versus forward), dividend yield, dividend cover, price/book, return on equity, gearing, interest cover and current ratio.
297 words, about 1 min06Portfolio Construction and Management
Asset allocation is the dominant driver of a portfolio's risk and return profile. Diversification works because imperfectly correlated assets offset one another; combining assets with correlation below +1 reduces volatility without necessarily reducing expected return.
301 words, about 2 min07The Client Advisory Process and Wealth Planning
The process begins with fact-finding: personal and family circumstances, employment, assets and liabilities, income and expenditure, existing arrangements, time horizon, liquidity needs, tax position, and any protection gap. Anti-money-laundering checks run alongside.
287 words, about 1 min08Taxation and Other Considerations Affecting Clients
Investors face taxes on income (interest, dividends, rent), on capital gains when assets are sold, on wealth transfers (inheritance or gift taxes), and on transactions (stamp duties, transaction taxes). Withholding taxes are deducted at source on dividends and interest, often reduced under double taxation treaties.
317 words, about 2 min